Council members Amy Murray, Charlie Winburn and Christopher Smitherman voted no. Chris Seelbach, P.G. Sittenfeld, Kevin Flynn, David Mann, Yvette Simpson and Wendell Young voted for the new resolution to continue construction.

Just before 2 p.m. Thursday, Cranley made the announcement with Councilman Kevin Flynn that supporters had the votes to restart the project.

"We will have a streetcar," Cranley said at the announcement.

Cranley said he still opposes the $133 million project and will not sign the law, but that the city cannot spend more time on the issue.

The whole saga played out just hours before the federal government's funding deadline of midnight Thursday. If no decision was reached by the deadline, the government would have pulled millions of dollars in grant money.

“We commend the leadership of Cincinnati for moving forward on a project that holds the real promise of transforming Cincinnati communities and accelerating economic growth in the region. These are the benefits that the U.S. Department of Transportation saw when we chose to invest nearly $45 million in the city’s bold vision. Now, we can all get back to work as partners to get the streetcar project done,” Federal Transit Administration spokesman Peter Rogoff Thursday afternoon.

The streetcar committee met at noon on Thursday before the full council vote.

At the meeting, the plan to move forward received five "yes" votes and three abstentions. Murray, Winburn and Flynn abstained. Smitherman was absent for the vote.

Flynn told WLWT News 5's John London that he abstained from the vote because he was still working on commitments to fund streetcar operating costs. He was waiting for specific commitments in writing before voting to proceed with the project.

Flynn had previously said he was willing to support the streetcar only if a plan to pay for operating expenses was in place.

Shortly after 2 p.m., Flynn announced that there were signed documents from the Haile Foundation guaranteeing $9 million over 10 years for operating costs.

"Whether you're for or against the streetcar, it's going forward," Flynn said. "This is the beginning of making the streetcar a successful project. We have no choice but to make it successful."

Mann said he was glad the fight over the project was finished and that Council could now focus on bigger city issues like poverty and crime.

Cranley said he did not support the City Council's decision and that the money for the project could have been better spent on improving different neighborhoods.

Tuesday, SORTA offered to take on the operating costs for the streetcar. But Cranley said their funding was not solid.

That development was enough to make Mann say he’s likely to support the project.

Mann’s vote would swung the council in support of the project (5-4), but it was not enough to overcome Cranley’s promised veto.

That required the sixth vote from Flynn.

Cranley said he will not sign off, but will inform the federal government that the streetcar project received the needed votes and it is the will of council to move forward. It will become law in four days.

"(Flynn has) to make his decision based on his conscience and what he thinks is best for the city. I'm going to respect any decision council members make, although my position is that we can't afford it. Then there will be an expectation of future phases and, you know, we just can't afford it," Cranley said.

The City Council's streetcar committee met with KPMG Thursday morning to talk about the audit findings.

According to KPMG's findings, it would cost at least $104 million to complete the streetcar, including the $34 million already spent. It would cost between $50 million and $80 million to kill the project, including the $34 million already spent.

KPMG was also asked to determine the costs of operating and maintaining the system over the next 30 years. The estimated annual cost, in today's dollars is $3.13 million to $3.54 million annually, with projected annual revenues of $1.35 million to $1.10 million. The estimated net annual cost is between $1.88 million and $2.44 million.

Construction is expected to restart within the next week. No ballot measure or court fight is expected to further hinder the project.